The present invention relates to trim parts for a vehicle such as a motor vehicle or the like, and more particularly to a butt arrangement of trim parts, which can get rid of unsightliness at the butt arrangement portion of the trim parts.
In a conventional vehicle such as an automobile or the like, a plurality of trim parts are attached onto the inner surface of a panel of a body for better interior finish. The butt arrangement of the trim parts requires a special technique in consideration of such circumstances.
FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate an example of such conventional butt arrangements of trim parts, wherein a trim parts assembling section of an automobile 10 has a roof side panel 12 and a plurality of trim parts: a front roof garnish 14, a windshield garnish 16, and a roof side garnish 18. Reference numerals 20 and 22 indicate an instrument assembly and a front seat, respectively. The windschield garnish 16, referred as to a first trim part, is abutted to the roof side garnish 18, as a second trim part, so as to form a butt arrangement portion.
The first trim part 16 has a first longitudinal portion 24 which extends substantially in parallel to an inner surface of the roof side panel 12, as a body panel hereinafter, and a first transverse portion 26 which extends from the edge of the first longitudinal portion 24 near the second tirm part 18 toward the surface of the body panel 12 to form continuously a substantially right angle bend as shown in FIG. 3. On the other hand, the second trim part 18 has a second longitudinal portion 28 which extends substantially in parallel to the inner surface of the body panel 12 and a second transverse portion 30 which extends at substantially a right angle from the edge of the second longitudinal portion 28 near the first trim part 16 to the surface of the body panel 12, so as to form a clearance, having a width of L, between the first transverse portion 26 and the second transverse portion 30.
In the above-described butt arrangement, the first transverse portion 26 is located just beyond the second transverse portion 30 in the direction from a view "E" which is at the position of the eyes of vehicle passengers sitting on the front seat 22 to the butt arrangement portion, so that the clearance having a width of L is hardly seen due to tolerance absorption. The term "vehicle passengers" is sued herein to mean persons being conveyed by the vehicle. However, in the structure of such a conventional butt arrangement as described above, the first and second transverse portion 26 and 30 are at substantially right angles to the first and second longitudinal portion 24 and 28, respectively; consequently, the clearance, deep groove, between the first and second transverse portion 26 and 30 can be easily observed, this causes a problem of unsightliness.
In addition, since the corner angle of the first transverse portions 26 to the first longitudinal portion 24 is an acute angle, this may give an unpleasant protruding feeling. In particular, there is a defect that the protruding feeling is increased where the first intersection surface 9 is peeled off from the surface of the body panel 12 as shown by a dotted line of FIG. 3.